The umbrella
by arily137
Summary: -one shot- Oh what a strange creature she was, laughing and jumping in the rain while I stood under my black umbrella.


**The****Umbrella**

"I gotta go dobe."

"Aw come on, teme. We just got here!"

"It's been half an hour…"

"..."

"I have to go, or I'll miss the bus."

"Aww fine, why don't you just get a car man? I mean, you have so, so much money!"

"I don't need one yet, and I want to earn a car with my own my money, not use the only thing my parents left me."

"Kami, what is wrong with you?!"

The raven hair boy said nothing as he left the coffee shop with a smirk on his face. His best friend would never change, he would always stay the stupid and cheerful idiot who would never shut up. Like always, the rain was pouring onto the citizens of Amegakure. He opened his black umbrella in a swift and smooth movement, and walked onto the streets with his eyes closed, reveling in the peace and quiet, but scowling at the troublesome neverending water.

As he approached the bus stop, he leaned against the glass support of the overhang, but his eyes snapped opened at the harsh sound of splashing water. His eyes widened in amusement and confusement as he was met with the sight of a short bright pink-haired girl eagerly jumping puddles right beside the bus stop. Most surprisingly, she was only wearing a pink t-shirt with a loose scarf wrapped around her delicate neck, a short black skirt with high knee socks and combat boots. She held no umbrella nor did she wear a raincoat. She gracefully stepped out of an unusually deep puddle and looked up at the gloomy sky, and her face broke out into a beautiful and breathless smile.

What is wrong with this girl? He had thought to himself and before he could comprehend it, he started towards the absurd creature.

"Kami you're so annoying. What are you doing in the rain, you are going to get sick."

The pink-haired girl jumped in surprise as she landed face to face with a handsome young man. His black umbrella covered them both as he shielded them from the heavy rain. He was met with stunning emerald eyes filled with fury and embarrassment. She put her small fists on her hips and retorted,

"Excuse me mister, did you just call me annoying? Wait, I don't even know you! Are you some creep? Hmph, well I didn't ask for your advice and I don't remember asking you for your umbrella either!" she nervously rambled as her cheeks grew red.

"Hm, fine," was all he said before he turned on his heel and began walking away. As the rain suddenly started landing on the petite girl again, she quickly turned around and whispered,

"W-wait," it was quiet, but that was all she needed because he stopped dead in his tracks, with his back still faced to her.

"I'm Haruno Sakura."

"Hm, Uchiha Sasuke," he said with his velvety voice. Before either of them could say anything else, intruding headlights shone through the grim atmosphere and both of them brought their hands up to shield their eyes from the blinding light. The bus pulled up a couple seconds later and came to a shuddering stop in front of the stop, and the doors slowly creaked open.

Sasuke looked at the open doors and then gradually turned his head to glance at the Sakura. She plastered a wide smile on her face and yelled through the rain,

"Go! Isn't it your ride? Don't miss it or you will have to stay in the rain with me rambling nonstop to you! Anyways, the next bus is my ride, don't worry!" Sasuke snorted as he turned back and leisurely headed towards the opening of the bus.

"Who said I was worrying? Hm, that's the last thing I would want to do," Sasuke replied deeply with a smirk. Sakura gaped at him before bursting into laughter.

"Uchiha Sasuke, what a gentlemen. Anyhow, I'll see you around, bye creep!"

Sasuke had boarded the bus and rose an eyebrow. It was the first time he was addressed in such a manner, teasing or not. He snorted in amusement and wonder at the strange creature as the glass doors trembled shut and the bus started through the rain.

"Teemmmmmee?! Why are you leaving so early and why do you keep checking your watch?" Naruto pondered for a moment before jumping in his seat. "Holy shit! You have a girl waiting?! THE SASUKE UCHIHA HAS HIS EYES ON A GIRL?!" Sasuke clamped his hand over the hyperactive boy's mouth and dragged him down into his seat again, before the coffee shop started sending complaints over again.

"Shut up," he hissed before he unsurely took his hands off Naruto's mouth. "And no! I am not dating a girl right now nor will I for some time." Naruto slumped down in his seat dejectedly before saying,

"...you know what? You should so meet my step-sister. She's also single and stubborn like you! She needs a good man in her life considering she is not in a very good health condition right now...I worry for her. Her name i-" Sasuke harshly cut him off as he got up from his seat.

"I'm not interested. I got to go, or I'll miss my bus." Without another word, he picked up his dull umbrella and his cup of coffee and disappeared from the coffee shop. Naruto let out a sharp and loud laugh as he forgot to mention that Sasuke's bus didn't leave until another 30 minutes.

Sasuke unknowingly picked up his pace as he headed towards the bus stop. As he expected, he was met with appearance of the peculiar girl from yesterday. He silently walked up to her as she dabbed her boots in the water and stopped right before he crashed into her. Like yesterday, she was startled and spun around before he could blink.

"HOLY...why don't you warn me like normal people do, before mysteriously appearing behind me like a creep, you creep?" she sputtered out in one breath as she held her dainty hand to her heaving chest. Sasuke smirked and shoved his cup of coffee into her other empty hand.

"Drink it, you're too cold. And why don't you bring an umbrella like a normal person?" he retorted as he threw her words back at her. She grinned as she took a sip of the steaming coffee.

"Touche," With a coffee in her hand, and the black umbrella in his right hand, they walked towards the overhang to sit down beneath on the bench. Sakura sat down first as Sasuke snapped his umbrella shut and shook off the remaining water before taking a seat down himself.

She kicked her legs like a little kid and curiously looked around. Again, she ended up looking up through the glass overhang and staring at the sky. Sasuke glanced at her like a little boy and asked,

"Why do you stand out in the rain like you always do?"

Sakura smiled, but it did not reach her elegant green eyes. "The rain is beautiful. I love standing out in the rain...it feels like it could wash away all the bad things, you know? The captivating sound of the rain hitting the rain is so soothing and it sometimes just tunes out the rest of the world. I don't know, the rain, I guess makes me feel weightless, like there are no griefs or burdens to carry. I know it won't, but hey, a girl can dream right?" Before Sasuke could question her, she uttered in a quiet and alluring voice,

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," Sasuke furrowed his brows in a baffled movement at the suffix added to his name, "I think you should get another umbrella." Sasuke looked at her with an annoyed but innocent look.

"Why? My umbrella is fine the way it is."

"lie, it is too...black. It is so sad and gloomy!"

"...I like black."

"Well, you should still get another umbrella...you should get a pink one!"

"No, that color is so annoying. It is so...vivid like your hair. And I will not throw my black one away for some stupid pink umbrella."

"Hmph, you are so mean Sasuke-kun. You have too much black on! You should get a pink umbrella."

"You have too much pink on. You should have a black umbrella. Or at least some sort of umbrella. You will get sick in the rain without one." Sakura laughed light-heartedly at Sasuke before the bus pulled to a stop. Sasuke glanced to his watch in surprise. How had time passed so fast with the little pink pixie beside him? He pushed himself up and picked up his umbrella.

"Maybe, one day. I will get a...pink," he shuddered, "umbrella when you get a black umbrella."

Sakura smiled her beautiful smile and her eyes lit up.

"Sure Sasuke, I'll do it as long as I take that horrid color of that umbrella away from you." Sasuke smirked as he headed towards the bus. Sakura's eyes widened as she bit her lip. She mumbled something out before he had gotten too far,

"I will be leaving for some time to get out of town. I have some business to take care of, Sasuke. Sorry for telling you so late, I guess I had forgotten…all about it." she sadly laughed, "That has never happened before." Sasuke slightly frowned at the thought of Sakura not being at the bus station to greet him everyday, but he unwillingly nodded. He added before getting on the bus,

"Don't forget to bring an umbrella to wherever you're going, or you'll get sick. Goodbye Sakura." Come back soon, he inaudibly told himself. The doors quickly shut with a swift bang as Sasuke took a seat by the window.

He looked out the window, out into the rain and where the beautiful and strange girl stood. She was so beautiful with the rain streaking down her childish pink hair, and the rain trailing down her perfect porcelain face. It had looked like a tear had escaped from her exquisite eyes, but it quickly rolled down the rest of her face like the fellow raindrops. She waved at him as the bus started to take off, and Sasuke gave a small nod of acknowledgement as she disappeared out of his sight, and out of his life once again.

Sasuke had not gone to work or the coffee shop for the entire week and probably a couple days more after that. He had not been feeling well as he moped around the house, trying to get some work done in the house. The only time he had exited the house was to buy a stupid pink umbrella and god knows what compelled him to buy it in the spur of the moment. Sasuke could hardly concentrate with a certain pink-haired pest annoying him even when she wasn't here. He grumbled to himself as he almost crashed into a wall with his preoccupied mind with her again. After completely shutting down his cell phone for a week, Sasuke slowly walked over to the counter where he had placed it and opened it. The first thing that flashed on his screen were the 17 missed calls from Naruto over the 2 weeks. Naruto was stupid, but he wasn't that ignorant to know that if he didn't pick up the phone a couple times, he was busy so something urgent must have happened. He dialed back to Naruto and waited for the phone to ring a couple times, before hanging up, the receiver finally pick up. Sasuke was met with deafening silence and he mumbled out a,

"Dobe."

"Teme, what's wrong with you? Why haven't you been picking up your phone?!"

"Calm down, Naruto. I've been a little...preoccupied over the week. What happened?"

Sasuke heard Naruto stifling sobs and sniffing a distance from the phone, but he had still picked up on the sounds. He frowned and asked again, "Naruto?"

"I can't believe you selfish bastard. The time I needed you the most, you couldn't be there?!"

"I-"

"You know...you know I was so depressed over these couple days and I wanted someone to talk to...all I wanted was someone to accompany me to the funeral."

"...what? What happened? Who…?" Sasuke shakily breathed out.

"My step-siste-," Naruto choked over his own words, "I loved her like a real sister. She was so sweet and kind and violent. She was so innocent...SHE DID NOTHING WRONG! BUT SHE WAS SICK FOR SO LONG AND NO ONE COULD DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. THROUGHOUT THAT ENTIRE TIME, SHE WOULD NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT HER CONDITION, BUT SHE LIVED LIFE AS IF SHE WASN'T GOING TO DIE IN A FEW DAYS. WHEN THE DATE THE DOCTOR HAD WARNED HER ABOUT NEARED, SHE LEFT TOWN SO SHE WOULDN'T BOTHER ANYONE WITH HER DEPARTURE...kami, she was so strong. So beautiful."

A cold and chilling wave washed over Sasuke and left him paralyzed. He managed to choke out a few words, "Wha-what was her name?"

Naruto sniffled and replied heart-brokenly, "...so beautiful. So beautiful like the flower. Kami, she was so, so strong. She didn't deserve this…" Naruto started mumbling to himself, "I wish I could have spent more time with her instead of staying at work overtime almost every other day. Oh, poor Sakura-chan-" Sasuke dropped his phone and it smashed onto the granite with a beautiful clash as his phone shattered.

He was frozen. Time stopped. His heart-beat had chilled and dropped to a dangerous level. His heart clenched painfully and held him in a vice-like grip. His skin prickled all over and his legs could no longer support him. He tumbled to the ground as he caught himself with his shaking hands. Tears formed around his eyes for a girl that had changed his life in two days. Without thinking, he scrambled onto his feet and ran out the house, grabbing two umbrellas as he left.

His harsh panting echoed through the cemetery as he crazily searched for his flower's name. He fell down onto the wet mud in haste, and started to wipe the filth off some of the gravestones to read the engraved names. Sasuke impetutously started crawling through the impossibly long muddy aisle, wiping each epitaph in hope to not find her name. He crawled ungracefully to the front of a epitaph with blooming pink flowers placed in front of it. With spasming hands, he pushed the mud off the epitaph and was met with her alluring and unforgettable name. He was dry out of tears by the time he found her and he tiredly sat down, not caring that the rain was pouring over him.

For the first time, he actually sat down and looked up at the crying sky. It really was beautiful. The pouring rain gently washed away the dirt off all the epitaphs and left them clean and pure. The rain had washed away Sakura's fear of her own death, and Sasuke's own fear of falling in love. He had only wished that it could wash away the sickness the infected her and leave her untouched and flawless and here beside him. He carefully stroked the stone and reached for his black umbrella. After catching his breath, he finally spoke with a shaky smile on his face,

"Kami, you're so annoying. I _told_ you to bring an umbrella or you would get sick." Without another word, he opened the umbrella in one swift and smooth motion and laid it against the epitaph so that it would shield the gravestone. He climbed onto his unsteady feet and looked at her one more time before opening his other umbrella. Sasuke popped open the umbrella and gave a nod to her before he turned around and exited with the umbrella.

Sakura looked down with her newly acquired black umbrella upon Sasuke and his umbrella as he exited the sacred grounds and she smiled to herself. He did look better with a pink umbrella.


End file.
